Follow the adventures of Briana and Steve as they attempt to eat at every restaurant on College Avenue in order, from Broadway to Bancroft.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Market Hall

We thought Market Hall was going to be an epic review since there are so many stores in there that serve food. But it turns out there are only three places in Market Hall that actually qualify as "restaurants" according to the rules of our blog.

The restaurants we reviewed are:

The Pasta Shop

Market Hall Bakery

Peaberry's Coffee and Tea

So we figured we could do all three in one trip.

We will not be reviewing Market Hall Produce, or either of the butchers as they don't prepare food onsite. We will also not be reviewing Bloomies Flowers, sorry vegetarians!

The Pasta Shop

The Pasta Shop has fresh cut pasta, a deli counter, cheese counter, and a large selection of scoopable salads and other prepared foods.

We knew we were going to have pastries for dessert, so we opted for a light lunch. From top to bottom of the stack in the above left photo:

Indian cauliflower - Briana thought this one was bland and gross. Steve found it bland but not that gross. Not a ringing endorsement. It sounded so promising!

Quinoa salad with sun-dried tomatoes, eggplant, red onions, and green peppers- We both liked this one a lot. The texture was interesting, and the tomatoes were tart.

Avocado salad with corn and lettuce - Another winner. Very fresh and light tasting. A great choice for a hot day (which it was).

Meatballs in marinara sauce - How do you mess up a classic like this? The texture was just wrong, like they used bubble gum instead of bread or something. The sauce was also very Boyardeesque (TM).

Picante Tuna Salad - This one was also great. Pretty similar to the avocado salad, but with tuna, and a teeny tiny hint of spiciness.

We give the Pasta Shop three Sabuys. The dishes we tried all could have used a little more flavor, but enough of them were good that we feel OK recommending this place. We probably only tried about a tenth of the things they sell in the salad section alone, so we know we're missing a lot of stuff here, for example, the pasta that the store is named after.

Market Hall Bakery

From front to back:

Shortbread - Shortbread is shortbread. Briana loves it, no matter what. Steve is not a big fan. If you like plain old boring shortbread, you'll like this.

Chocolate mint crinkle - Steve LOVED this. Briana is not a big chocolate lover, but Steve loves chocolate... he loves it long time. We both agreed this cookie has a great texture, with a crispy, crinkly outside, and gooey, fudgy innards. The mint keeps the chocolate from being too overwhelming.

Carrot cake - Both of us generally love carrot cake, and we were excited about this one because it has so much icing (which everyone knows is the best part). But something was just a little off. The icing didn't have the awesome creamcheesiness that EVERY OTHER CARROT CAKE has.

We've eaten a lot of baked goods from this place, and went out of our way to try some new things this trip. Some of them weren't that great (we're looking at you, carrot cake) but everything else we've eaten there has been delicious. Their brioche, scones, tarts, morning buns, and tres leches cake (to name a few) are all stellar. So we're giving Market Hall Bakery 4 Sabuys based on previous experience.

Peaberry's Coffee and Tea

It's a cafe. They serve coffee. Steve had a cappuccino, and Briana had a cup of plain ol' boring coffee. They were both fine. You can see from the photo that they do cool stuff with the foam, and IF you can find a table outside, it's a great place to sit and sip on a nice day. Sometimes though, people hog up all the chairs and won't move for hours no matter how close you stand and mouth-breathe on them.

You might have to backtrack, since a new restaurant has opened. On the other hand, it's a pop-up, and it's complicated to review a place where the chef changes every 2 weeks... http://www.theguestchef.net/